


Without You

by HockeyMatchmaking



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-07
Updated: 2013-01-06
Packaged: 2017-11-24 00:28:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/628216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HockeyMatchmaking/pseuds/HockeyMatchmaking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a long silence, Danny finally asked Claude what was wrong, and Claude growled, clutching his stomach miserably, as he threw the ultrasound picture at Danny. The older man stared at the picture for the longest time, as Claude stared off into the distance and then when Danny got what it was, a sharp intake of breath broke the silence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Without You

**Author's Note:**

> This is an unbeta'd work.
> 
> I know that a lot of people don't like mpreg, so don't read if it bothers you...
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a completely fictitious piece of work, and all the events mentioned in this story are completely fictional.

Everything was going well, Claude thought, until one day when he came home from a trip to the grocery store. Yeah, he was pretty fucking whipped, he and Danny had only been dating for a year, and he would do anything Danny Brière asked. Fuck.

It was going so well that Claude had moved in with Danny and his three children, and they were still friends, they just dated on nights when the boys weren't at home. He thought they were in love, the forever, no-one-else, I-wont-even-fuck-a-pretty-puck-bunny kind of love. And then, one day he came home from getting the groceries and it all went to hell.

"Danny! Danny, I couldn't find fruit loops, so I got some random shit cereal…but it looks good, so…" Claude's words trailed off as he realized that Danny was standing awkwardly in the middle of their living room, looking nervous and embarrassed. "What's wrong, baby?" The younger man inquired, and Danny just frowned, looking at the floor instead of at Giroux, as he should have been.

Then Claude realized when else Danny had gotten this particular look of consternation before. The last time he'd looked like this, they'd been discussing the age difference between the two of them. Which didn't bother Claude, but apparently really made Danny feel creepy. Like nine years was a large age gap. Yeah fucking right.

"Fuck." Danny sighed, and Claude knew it was gonna be bad. Fortunately the boys were at hockey practice, so they didn't hear their father swearing like a sailor. "I-I don't know how to…I…uh…um…I don't think we should keep doing this, Claude." Danny said, still staring at the floor, his gaze intense, as though the floor held the answers he was looking for.

Claude felt like all the blood in his body drained out through his feet, along with his emotions. He was left feeling cold and lonely. Danny finally looked up after a moment of complete silence and found that his partner was swaying, his face pale as a ghost. The hurt in Claude's eyes was so intense that Danny had to look away before he rescinded what he said.

After another moment, a choked sob escaped the younger man's lips and Claude viciously grabbed Danny's chin, forcing him to look the younger man in his eyes. Claude's beautiful, innocent brown eyes were filled with a world of hurt and sadness. The tears that spilled down his face made Claude's expression all the more wrong as it shifted into a mask of hate and rage.

"Fuck you. Seriously; fuck. you. If you fucking want me to leave, fine! Tell me you don't love me Danny? Tell me that and I'm gone. For fucking ever." Claude's voice dropped low, as it did when he was angry, but it held a quivering note of sadness that told Danny just how far gone Claude was. The older man could see just how sure the younger man was that Danny would never be able to say the words. Claude was grasping at straws and he didn't realize just how good Danny was at lying.

Danny gulped, but it was better for Claude if he just got over Danny and moved on with his life. "I-I…Never loved you Claude." Danny choked out and watched as the hurt and confusion overruled Claude's features. The younger man's hands shook, and he balled them into fists. For a short moment, Danny actually thought Claude was going to punch him, but instead, the man spun and punched the wall, his hand making the plaster dent in around his fists.

"Fuck you." Claude gasped out, and he ran out the door, tears streaming down his face. Danny just stood still for a moment, in his quiet house and waited until what he'd just done had caught up with him and the tears began.  
  
~~<><><>~~

"Sean….Sean…get the damn door." Brayden whined, rolling over in the bed and strongly considering killing who ever dared to disturb his post-orgasm sleep. Sean Couturier rolled his eyes and got out of bed with a groan. "Thanks!" Brayden smiled and closed his eyes again, finding it hard to keep them open as his lack of sleep caught up with him.

Sean yawned, stretched and pulled a pair of boxers on sleepily, as the pounding at the door got more and more desperate. A sleepy Sean unlocked and opened the door to find a mess of angst and sadness that was Claude Giroux standing in his doorway. "Brayden!" Sean yelled, as Giroux fell forward, all his weight collapsing on top of poor Sean.

Sean could smell the alcohol on Claude's breath as the whimpering man mumbled something about missing Danny. Brayden must have heard the distressed note in Sean's voice since he was out of their room in only a moment. He found Claude Giroux weeping quietly into his couch and Sean running his hand through his hair, frantically dialing Danny Brière.

"Yes?" Sean sighed in relief when he heard Brière's voice over the phone. "Yeah? Danny? Why is Claude crying into my couch about you?" The kid inquired and then realized that Danny sounded just as wrecked as Claude did.

"Just…just…look after him, okay?" Danny pleaded and Sean suddenly was extremely angry at the other man's resigned tone. "Fuck you." He yelled into the phone and hung up as Claude started shivering. Both sober men were quiet for a moment, listening to Claude's drunken mumblings in hope that they would glean some information about what had happened.

"He-he…he doesn't love me!" Claude cried, sounding so terrified that both Sean and Brayden flinched. "He-he…hates me…Danny!" The drunk man wailed, dragging his fingers through his blond curls as thought if he tugged hard enough, Danny would come and tell him to stop.

"Claude, what happened?" Brayden inquired, sounding like he needed a drink. To that end, Sean felt far to sober to be having this conversation. He quietly grabbed two beers, and passed one to Bray, who nodded his thanks.

The drunk man looked at Brayden, his eyes not quite focusing right through the sheen of tears. "He-he…'doesn't think we should keep doing this'…" Claude turned to Sean and asked. "Why would he say that? Am I not good enough for him?" Then the drunk man broke down again and started bawling his eyes out.

Sean murmured something soothing and rubbed Claude's back until his sobs subsided and he fell asleep, silently snoring. Sean and Brayden snuck out of their living room and quietly stayed up all night plotting how they could kill Danny Brière.

~~<><><>~~

After that first night, Claude fell into a deep depression and the only things that he left Brayden and Sean's house for was to go to practice and games. And even then he was the quietest that the team had ever seen him, he barely spoke a word to anyone, and he vehemently ignored Danny. Both Sean and Brayden viciously ignored and generally made Danny's life miserable at every chance they got, and Danny just let them yell and scream as much as they wanted, just quietly taking the punishment.

Neither Brayden nor Sean were surprised when Claude's mental state deteriorated to the point where it affected his body. They didn't tell anyone, but they quietly asked the trainers to have a look at Claude if they got a chance. That's how Claude ended up puking in a wastebasket in the examination room at a hospital, waiting for the doctor to return with his blood tests.

"Well Mr. Giroux, we have some good news for you." The doctor said, and Claude panted, wiping his mouth and spiting into the wastebasket yet again. Claude just laughed sarcastically at the idea of 'good news' and settled down to find out what the doctor considered to be 'good news'.

"Um…Well, you're pregnant." The doctor smiled and Claude's mouth fell open. "How-how…" He mumbled, his voice cracking, and silence seemed to eat away at the room until Claude realized the doctor was happily chatting away and explaining that Claude was 4 months along, and how they could do an ultrasound if he wanted.

Claude didn't say yes, but the doctor told him to lie down anyway and Claude did it. Thoughts ran through Claude's head a mile a minute, but most of all he was just thinking 'fuck, well, Danny already hates me, what more could go wrong?'. The grainy image was just too much for Claude to handle, so he looked away as the doctor continued chatting and explaining things that Claude didn't really care about.

"Can-can I get rid of it?" Claude mumbled and the doctor paused, shocked. Claude unconsciously wrapped an arm around his stomach as the doctor stared at Claude like he'd just asked how to kill a puppy. "Um…well, you're too far along to have an abortion if that's what you're asking." The doctor said, smoothly and Claude froze.

Well, fuck.

Claude left the doctors office to see that Sean and Brayden were waiting for him, he had a bag full of vitamins and miscellaneous information explaining how to look after a fucking baby. Brayden leapt to his feet as Claude walked out, looking worried as Claude mumbled that he'd explain it too them when they got home.

Both Brayden and Sean kept glancing worriedly at Claude all throughout the drive back to their house, and that really fucking made Claude angry. He wasn't a fucking child, obviously. He didn't need to be looked after, he was going to have a fucking child of his own, he could look the fuck after himself.

But then what Claude had been thinking caught up to him and he gasped, folding both his hands over his stomach, trying to feel the child inside by sheer power of will. Tears began dripping down his face as he realized that he'd always have a piece of Danny no matter what now. Claude leaned against the car door and curled into the fetal position, protecting his baby as much as he possibly could as they drove past the people that were oblivious of how much pain and love Claude was feeling in that moment.

~~<><><>~~

As soon as the three men, plus one unborn child, walked into the house, both Sean and Brayden spun to confront Claude. "What is it man? You look both worse and better than you have in two months." Sean murmured quietly, like he thought that Claude would break if he was loud. "Yeah, you look more alive, but you also look like someone just handed you a death sentence." Brayden added, his face pinched with worry as he tried to catch Claude's eye. Claude had discovered that he found the carpeting very interesting as he moved past the pair to sit on the couch, where he slept many nights. He slept on the couch whenever Sean and Brayden were being particularly loud in their love, and Claude just didn't want to hear the reminder of what he'd lost.

"I-I…" Claude began, and the two other men looked at him expectantly. "I'm pregnant." Claude mumbled, then burst into hysterical laughter with a hint of mania and sadness. Sean and Brayden both looked dumbstruck as Claude showed them the picture of his child. After a couple more shocked moments, Brayden collapsed next to Claude and Sean's expression grew murderous.

"I'm calling him." Sean growled, furiously dialing a number on his phone. The two other men didn't even have to ask who 'he' was, they both knew that Sean was calling Danny. Claude knew that he should've cared that the father of his child was about to be screamed at, but he just couldn't summon the energy to feel anything other than confused.

"Fuck you." Sean shouted into the phone as soon as someone picked it up. "Oh, uh…I think you want to talk to my dad." Caelan's voice woke Claude up a little, and without knowing what he was doing, Claude made a come here gesture, as though Caelan could see him. "Sorry about that, kid." Sean had the decency to look embarrassed as he shook his head at Claude.

After a moment of shuffling on the other end, Danny's voice growled "What?", and Sean's face turned red at the way Claude perked up, looking slightly more alive than he had before. "You are a fucking idiot." Sean stated, his fury making Claude's grip around his stomach tighten. "What now?" Danny sounded fed up and Sean slammed his fist down on the table, making Claude jump, and Brayden glare at his partner.

"You can't even comprehend how much I fucking hate you." Sean growled and Brayden grabbed the phone away from the furious man. "You better come over." Brayden sighed, sounding exhausted, and you could almost hear Danny's frown over the phone. "Why should I?" He challenged and Brayden quietly passed the phone over to a sobbing Claude. "I need you." Claude mumbled into a pillow and an audible click from the other end filled the silence.

Sean grabbed his phone back and hit redial without a second thought. "Yes?" Caelan's voice filled up the quiet room yet again. "What did you say to dad? He just ran out of the house and said he'd be back later." The kid asked, sounding confused. Sean sighed and passed the phone to Brayden, who was much better at talking to kids than he was. Claude just resumed sobbing into the pillow, his hand curled around his stomach.

"Hey Caelan. Sean and I are gonna come over and hang out with you guys for a little while, okay?" Brayden murmured into the phone and Sean frowned, but Brayden just stared dryly at his partner, and Sean grumbled, but grabbed their coats. Brayden hung up the phone as a frantic knock sounded on the door.

On their way out, the pair left Claude alone with Danny, but both threatened the older man one last time. "We'll look after your kids, you fuck him over again and I promise, you'll be miserable for the rest of your life." Sean growled as Danny frantically asked them what was wrong with Claude.

Since the older man hadn't gotten an answers, he just shoved a hand through his hair with a sigh, draping his coat over a chair on his way in. Danny quietly sat on the couch next to a silent Claude and waited for the younger man to tell him what was wrong.

Claude couldn't even look at Danny, because he just was struck by how much he loved and missed the older man every time he saw him. So Claude stared at the wall and tried to ignore the fact that Danny was staring at Claude like he held the answers to the universe.

After a long silence, Danny finally asked Claude what was wrong, and Claude growled, clutching his stomach miserably, as he threw the ultrasound picture at Danny. The older man stared at the picture for the longest time, as Claude stared off into the distance and then when Danny got what it was, a sharp intake of breath broke the silence.

"You-you…I-I…you?" Danny stammered out, shocked. Claude slid around so that his feet were up on the couch and his knees were between Danny and his unborn child. "Yeah." Claude mumbled, his cheeks going red as he absentmindedly stroked his stomach. After an awkward silence, Danny started to say something, but Claude was too caught up in the feeling that he was about to throw up to pay much attention.

~~<><><>~~

Claude jumped up from the couch and grabbed the nearby wastebasket to heave and spew his dinner up in a very unattractive way. He gagged a few more times and barely registered the hand on his back as his stomach attempted to come out through his mouth. Danny quietly patted and rubbed Claude's back as the younger man coughed again and finally collapsed on the couch.

They were silent for another moment as Danny quietly stared at the image of his unborn child, and Claude tried to imagine what he should say to Danny. Finally Claude opened his mouth. "I-I…You don't have to, you know, do anything…I-I can, I dunno, just raise it myself…" The younger man murmured and Danny just looked at him blankly, as though that wasn't even an option in his mind. "The-the doctor said I-I couldn't get, um, rid of it…Cause, uh, you know, I'm too far along."  Claude mumbled, his cheeks red as Danny just stared at him.

Danny reached over silently and pulled the younger man into a hug. "I love you." Danny murmured into Claude's hair and the younger man jerked up at the words. "Fuck you." Claude growled, fighting off the older man. "Wait. Let me explain…Please?" The older man inquired and Claude just looked at him, waiting for his explanation. "Okay." Danny licked his lips and began explaining in their native French.

"Um, so…uh…I really do love you…but I started thinking a couple of months ago about how many things you were missing out on. And then you just kept staying back with me and the boys instead of going to do things with your friends and I-I panicked, okay? I realized that you were going to wake up one day and resent me for not letting you do more when you were young. So, uh, yeah, I pushed you away, 'cause I thought you'd get over it and realize that your life was better without me in it."

Danny mumbled and Claude frowned, opening his mouth to speak, but Danny interrupted him. "But then you didn't, and oh God, now I've fucked things up even worse, and all I do at night is lay awake remembering your expression when I lied and told you that I didn't love you." Danny babbled and Claude quirked his mouth up in an approximation of a smile. It was such a bad attempt that he eventually gave up, and decided to talk to Danny instead.

"I-I love you Danny. And I tried to hate you for a while after you told me to go away, but really I just missed you. And-and, n-now there's a child, and, and I just really want you to love me." Claude pleaded, his eyes filling with tears, as Danny looked surprised. "I-I just don't want to raise this child alone. And I want it to know how beautiful your eyes are, and-and how grumpy you are in the morning. I-I…" Claude suddenly found his voice cut off as Danny's lips covering his.

After a long kiss, Danny drew back and murmured 'I love you' over and over again, until Claude kissed him, smiling against the lips as familiar as his own. After another indeterminate amount of time, Danny drew back and shifted Claude around so he could feel the slight bump that was their child. Claude moaned and leaned into Danny's touch, his feet scrabbling for purchase on the hardwood floor.

"I want you to move back in with us." Danny mumbled into their intense kiss, as Claude attempted to stick his tongue down Danny's throat. "Alright." Claude murmured, feeling whole for the first time in months. He smiled and stroked Danny's face, memorizing every line and every pucker. "Will you stay with me?" Claude mumbled sleepily, and somehow Danny knew that he wasn't talking about just that night. "Of course." Danny said, shifting so that Claude was laying in his lap. The older man began stroking the younger man's hair and eventually they both fell asleep.

~~<><><>~~

"So…What are we going to tell the coach?" Claude wondered, his hand casually covering his stomach as the pair stood outside the arena, where they had an optional skate in the morning. They'd woken up that morning, both happier than they'd been in a long time. Neither had told their families yet, and the boys didn't even know, but Claude had subtly moved his things back to Danny's house and the kids hadn't even commented.

They had a meeting with the staff to talk about why Claude wouldn't be playing for the rest of the season and both were nervous as fuck about it. Danny frowned and fixed Claude's hair as he lightly teased the other man. "Probably the truth." He laughed as Claude grumbled and they finally walking into the meeting.

Although it had only been a week, Claude's stomach had already grown, and was more noticeable than before, subtly rounding out and filling up his pants, making it difficult for him to do them up. So, although it made him feel sorta self-conscious, he hooked a safety pin from one side of his pants to the other, instead of doing up the button, because his stomach just refused to go in far enough to let him do up any of his dress pants.

They greeted the staff and shook everyone's hands before they sat in the chairs provided. "So, you fellas wanted to talk with us?" The coach inquired, and Claude blushed, trying to imagine how to properly explain this. Of course, Danny just goes for the direct approach, without sugar coating it at all.

"Claude's pregnant. We're together." Danny says, clear as day and Claude gasps, blushing even harder at how blatant Danny is. The staff all exchange a confused look, but decide to go with it. "So, uh, I'm gonna need the rest of the regular season off…I, uh, might be able to come back in the playoffs, but, uh…I'll need at least 4 months off…" Claude mumbled, trying to explain the situation, adult to adult and failing.

The staff just stared at them and then dismissed both of the men to discuss it, and asked them to tell the team. They said the coach would tell Danny and Claude what they decided to do after morning skate. As the pair left, Claude sighed and sagged against Danny, all of his energy suddenly dissipating.

"What the fuck are we gonna tell the team, Danny?" Claude asked, his voice sounding extremely drawn and tired. "Um…the truth?" Danny used the same joke as he had earlier, and this time Claude just stared at him, a hand awkwardly resting on his stomach as they walked. Danny finally relented and started explaining a plan as they approached the dressing room.

"Well, uh, we'll just, you know, talk to them like human beings." Danny smiled and carefully kissed Claude, then pushed the door open into the loud dressing room. At the sight of the pair walking in together, holding hands, the locker room went quiet. With so many eyes staring at Claude, his stomach rolled uncomfortably, and his face went a greenish/white color. He dropped Danny's hand and made a run for the nearest garbage pail.

After Claude finished hacking up his breakfast, Danny took the time to rub his back and whisper soothing noises, he looked up and saw that everyone was still watching him, and that scared him enough to start him gagging until nothing came up, and his throat constricted.

Finally, he stopped and wiped his mouth, straightening as Danny gave him a hand up. The whole room was dead silent as Danny glared around it, Claude started shivering and wrapped his arms around his stomach as he found himself doing more and more often nowadays.

Danny finally spoke in the silence. "Uh, Claude's pregnant, so he's gonna miss the rest of the season. Yeah guys, we're together." The older man said and Claude raised an eyebrow at his frankness, Danny just shrugged, as though he hadn't done anything wrong. You could hear a pin drop the room was so silent, and then it suddenly seemed like everyone was talking at once and trying to be heard.

It seemed like a lot of congratulations, some ribbing, and a few 'took you guys long enough's, and that made the pair happy.

~TBC

**Author's Note:**

> What do you think? Is it worth continuing?


End file.
